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A Franklin County jury gave Melissa Battle peace of mind on Monday after convicting a Zebulon man of taking away her mother and best friend.
Robert Lee Pastuer was sentenced to life in prison for killing Narskelsky Pastuer. Mrs. Pastuer’s body was found in the trunk of her car just before Christmas in 2006.
The first case against Mr. Pastuer ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked 8-4 to convict following a week-long trial in September.

For most “old house fanciers,” saving the structure and creating a home is the goal.
But for Joe and Sonja Webb, that’s the easy part.
Their challenge is figuring out a way to save the structure while making sure restoration is done in a way that the house will contribute to its own survival long after they are gone.
The Webbs, both Franklin County natives, are restoring the Timberlake House, a beautiful, two-story house a mile south of Louisburg along U.S. 401 -- and one of the county’s most visible landmarks.

YOUNGSVILLE — A foot patrol led police to arrest three Henderson men accused of leaving illegal tracks in three different counties.
Youngsville police arrested Quindarius Rainey, Mario Steed and Rashem McCoy, all 20, on charges of possession of burglary tools and possession of stolen property.
After processing evidence and digging more into their past, local officers discovered the trio were suspected of breaking into vehicles in Vance, Wake and Durham counties.

Attorneys for Franklin County, the sheriff’s office and its insurer settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of a pedestrian killed by a sheriff’s deputy.
Marcus Coppedge, 23, was killed the evening of Dec. 31, 2007 when he was hit by Deputy Crystal Mitchell as he tried to cross N.C. Highway 39 near Ingleside.

YOUNGSVILLE — Town commissioners adopted a resolution telling the state to keep their hands off their liquor.
Legislators in the Senate and House filed bills on March 24 to modernize the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control system and one of the tenets of that plan is to merge local ABC boards into one each per county.
Currently, there are 175 local ABC boards.

OPINIONS/EDITORIALS

Sometimes truly special ideas come from unusual places.
And that’s exactly what we gleaned from a blogger’s comment on our website over the weekend -- and it’s so good we thought we’d pass it along and perhaps underscore it a little.
Responding to Carey Johnson’s story about the successful Special Olympics held last week, a parent sent her thanks to the organizers of the event for another successful year.

GOOD MORNING: The April showers I can put up with, but these March-like winds and cooler than average temperatures are a horse of a different matter.
Pity, we can’t save some of this type of weather for later on when we’d really appreciate it.
Other than the weather, which can’t seem to make up its mind, the hummingbirds are returning and it’s beginning to look like spring.

My disdain for cell phones is no secret.
I have one, but I try to only use it as a last communicative resort.
But there are people who blab incessantly on the devices ­­— no matter the occasion — and I just want to wring their necks.
It seems that a UPS driver in Cincinnati felt the same way.
But instead of getting mad, he decided to get inventive.

Back in the fall, when conservatives and a few lonely liberals tried to stop the first in a series of massive federal bailouts of the nation’s financial-services and auto industries, one of their best arguments was that it would prove extremely difficult to disentangle Washington politicians from what used to be private companies. The principle of limited, constitutional government would take a severe blow, they said.

OBITUARIES

LOUISBURG – Joseph Phillip Allen, 46, died Sunday, April 12, 2009 at Franklin Regional Medical Center. A memorial service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 15, at New Hope Worship Center Church of God, 7428 Pearces Road, Louisburg.

WAKE FOREST - Aaron B. Smith, 70, died Friday, April 10, 2009 at his residence. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 16, at New Bethel Baptist Church in Rolesville. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

LOUISBURG - Barrett Delano Ray, 80, retired Airman 1st Class with the U.S. Navy, died Saturday, April 11, 2009. Funeral services were conducted Tuesday, April 14, at Pearces Baptist Church. Burial followed in the church cemetery with military honors.

SPORTS

LOUISBURG - One red-hot pitcher helped keep the Louisburg Warriors from having a chance to reach the finals at the annual Louisburg Easter Baseball Tournament at Frazier Field.
Following an opening-round decision against Halifax Academy, the Warriors met perennial entrant Bluestone last Saturday in the semifinals.
With a spot in the championship game at stake, the Barons received a solid pitching performance from ace Chris Overton.

LOUISBURG -- Maybe Franklinton should play every one of its games at 10 a.m. this season.
While some people are just getting started with their days, the Red Rams were already in high gear during Monday’s mid-morning meeting with Hobgood Academy in the seventh-place game of the Louisburg Easter Baseball Tournament.
Franklinton’s bats were wide awake as the Red Rams pounded out 10 hits en route to a 14-2 decision over Hobgood.

ALLENDALE, S.C. -- Louisburg College did the splits during a Region X baseball series last weekend on the road at the Univeristy of South Carolina-Salkehatchie.
LC went 2-2 for the weekend, winning the first and third games.
The first two contests were held last Friday -- one day earlier than the usual Region X standard -- because of Easter Weekend.

LOUISBURG -- Bluestone rode strong pitching, excellent defense and a few doses of small ball on its way to the championship at the annual Louisburg Easter Baseball Tournament.
Along with one timely hit. Just one.
That was all the offense the Barons needed during Monday’s 3-2 title-game victory over the Roanoke Rapids Yellow Jackets at Frazier Field on the Louisburg College campus.

GREENVILLE -- Brandon Henderson stepped up to the plate with two on and two outs trailing by one, 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth and flied out to center ending No. 14 East Carolina University’s rally Sunday afternoon against top-ranked Rice at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The win moved the Owls (25-8, 9-3) and Pirates (26-9, 9-3) into a tie for first in Conference USA, with Rice holding the tie-breaker due to a 2-1 series win.

DANVILLE, VA. -- Franklinton resident Thomas McArn will compete with the best ATV motocross racers in the world this weekend.
The 15-year-old ATV racer will take part in the TriangleCycle.com ATV National at Birch Creek Motorsports National -- Round Three of the 10-stop ITP/Moose Racing AMA ATV Motocross Championship.
As the only stop the national tour makes in Virginia, the event marks local racers’ best chance to gain national ATV motocross attention.

WINCHESTER, VA. -- North Carolina Wesleyan College’s baseball team clinched the 2009 USA South Regular Season Championship last weekend by earning a doubleheader split at 20th-ranked Shenandoah University.
The Battling Bishops (20-15) wrapped up their league slate with an 8-4 conference mark, capturing the 16th regular season title in program history and the 4th of head coach Charlie Long’s tenure.

PEARL, MISS. -- Three pitches into a game against a future Hall of Famer, the Carolina Mudcats held a lead, but the bullpen failed to hold a seventh inning lead as the Mississippi Braves rallied for a 7-4 victory on Easter Sunday at Trustmark Park in a Class AA Southern League baseball matchup.
Tom Glavine, the winningest active pitcher in the major leagues with 305 wins, made his final rehab start before flying to Atlanta to rejoin the Braves, but allowed a home run to Carolina’s Chris Heisey on his third pitch of the game.

RALEIGH -- The National Hockey League has announced the schedule for the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New Jersey Devils.
The No. 3 seeded Devils will host the No. 6 seeded Hurricanes in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series on today at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, at 7:30 p.m.
Game 2 will follow in New Jersey on Friday, also at 7:30 p.m.

SCHOOLS/EDUCATION

Two members of the Vance-Granville Community College staff were recently awarded their Professional Standards Program (PSP) Certification at the 58th Annual Conference of the North Carolina Association of Educational Office Professionals.
Mary H. McMannen of Oxford, an accounting technician in the VGCC Business Office, and Theodora G. Smith of Henderson, an Admissions and Records assistant in Student Affairs, were both recognized at the conference, which was held March 18-20 in Greensboro.

Hallum Kirkwood Dickens IV has been inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society, is a reflection of outstanding achievement in the liberal arts and sciences.

COMMUNITY NEWS

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. One of the ways Safe Space, Inc and others across the nation recognize this month is by wearing a teal ribbon in honor of those affected by sexual violence and to show our continued support.
As a community, we have a responsibility to support each and every individual whose life has been impacted by sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence and to speak out against this devastating problem. Only by speaking out can we make our community safer and begin to prevent.

The Vollmer Farm will have its 2nd Annual Strawberry Jam 5K Walk/Run on Saturday, April 25.
All of the proceeds from this year’s event will go to support the Bunn High School Relay for Life team and the Bunn High School Marching Band. The race starts at 10 a.m. and registration begins at 9 a.m.

Nyle Wadford, president of Neuse Tile Service Inc. in Youngsville, has been approved to sit on the American National Standards Institute’s ASC A108 Committee for tile installation specifications and has been elected vice president of the National Tile Contractors Association.